First Day of Preschool

Yesterday was P&F's first day of real preschool (the summer stuff was just preschool camp). They are in the 3-year old classroom with their new teachers, Ms. Page, Ms. Hughes, and Ms. Mincey.

 

  

My grandmother made this bow, and both my mom and I wore it,
and now I love that we still have it for Piper.

 

From the sounds of things, they had a great day, although Fletch had a little trouble staying in his seat. But, that's to be expected when you have a new and exciting classroom to explore. The school they are going to is just great, with such warm and caring teachers and fun activities every day for the kids (and for the parents too, since they have parents' night out monthly). I'm so excited for them because I think they'll have so much fun and learn a ton this year.

Back to the Beach

Yesterday, school was closed for teacher training, so Eric and I went back to the beach with Piper and Fletch (while Deacon stayed home with Eric's mom and had a fun day with her). What a difference two years makes (obviously)?!? It was such a great time.

We started out from Eric's parent's house around 7:15am and got to Lewes Beach around 10am. On the way there, it was pouring rain and I was afraid it wouldn't let up. But, Eric promised me it would, and he was right. Just as we were pulling in the parking lot, the rain slowed and then stopped.

Piper and Fletch were so excited to be at the beach and to see the "sea." After arriving, we played in the sand for a bit while we waited for the lifeguards to let us in the water (there was some thunder as we were arriving so we had to wait 30 minutes before they allowed swimmers in the water). Piper LOVED the sand. I've never seen her play so happily.

(Fletch referred to the sea gulls at the beach and in this picture as "sea pigeons.")

When we eventually made it to the water, Fletch, like his father, couldn't get enough. He was like a little fish and didn't want to get out.

Piper was a bit scared of the water at first but then decided she wanted to be like Ariel and pretend she was a mermaid with a fin and no legs. She made her way in and out of the water mermaid-style like this:

After they played in the water for a while, we went back to our towels for snacks and more sand play. 

As you can see, the day remained pretty cloudy, but warm. It actually was perfect beach weather for us because it wasn't boiling hot, and it kept the crowds away. We practically had the beach to ourselves. We stayed for about 2.5 hours and then when it looked like it might rain again, we packed up our stuff and headed into Lewes for lunch and ice cream. After that, we started our drive home, where both kids talked all about how much they loved the beach before conking out for naps. It was such an awesome day, and we'll definitely make going back a priority for next summer. 

The Essence of Deacon

In my last post, I promised more pictures of Deacon that really capture his essence. Here you go with some photos from the past few weeks (2 months old).

Those Pearly Whites

Yesterday, I picked up Piper and Fletch from school early for a dentist appointment. They went to the dentist once before around 18 months, but that was just to basically count their teeth. This appointment was the real deal--a tooth cleaning. We talked about it for a few days before and by the time their appointment came around, they were both super excited. Piper was especially happy to go when I told her the dentist was like a beauty salon for her teeth.

Piper went first, and while she was a bit nervous when the teeth cleaning started, she didn't flinch, and just focused on the TV on the ceiling. The dentist said her teeth look perfect.

Fletch went second, and it took about 20 minutes of talking to convince him to lay back in the chair and to open his mouth (which is why there aren't any photos of just him--I was focusing on simply getting him to not freak out). But, we persevered and eventually he got his teeth cleaned. His teeth also looked perfect.

I'm so proud of how great Piper and Fletch do in most new environments, whether it's the dentist, new schools, or with new people. They are such fun, cute, and adaptable little people.

Deacon: 2 Months

Deacon turned 2 months last Friday, and we had his pediatrician appointment this morning. Here are his 2-month stats and a close-up shot from the examining table. This picture doesn't accurately capture the "essence of Deacon" but I'll upload some of those soon.

Birth: 7lbs 9oz, 20.5 inches
2 weeks: 8lbs 9oz (49%), 20.25 inches (32%)
1 month: 10lbs 8oz (66%), 21 inches (31%)
2 months: 13lbs 1.6oz (70%), 23 inches (47%)

As you can see from his stats, he's already showing signs of being built just like Fletch: solid and stocky but adorable. 

After recovering from his virus, Deacon is doing great. He's still a little cuddlebug, and we all love him to pieces. For a few weeks, he was quite fussy and probably bordering on colic-y, but in the past week or so, he's become so much calmer. I've even caught him smiling a few times, and it's just the sweetest thing. We can even now go on car rides together where he's not screaming the entire time.

Deacon's favorite activity is still eating, and he eats about 30oz/day. He gets bottles every 3 hours from about 7am to 7pm. After eating, he generally stays awake for about an hour and then naps 1-2 hours. At night, he goes to bed around the same time as Piper and Fletch--7:30pm--after we finish the bedtime routine. Then, he sleeps for about 4-5 hours, gets up to eat, sleeps for 3-4 more hours, eats, and then sleeps 2-3 hours. He's definitely consolidating some of his night sleep and eating less, which means more sleep for Eric and me.

Even though Deacon has only been with us two months, it feels like we've known him forever. Adding a third baby to our house has had its challenges, but thankfully Deacon is so sweet that he just rolls with the punches and takes all the love he can get from his big sister and brother.

Surviving the Plague

I'm so happy to be here typing this because it means we are officially (knock on wood) over the plague that struck our house. Ok, maybe not the real plague, but a horrible, horrible virus.

About 2.5 weeks ago, Deacon and I both got a minor cold and congestion. It was bad enough that we were doing daily "baby steam rooms" where I'd take Deacon into the steamy bathroom to help clear his nose. Here's an adorable picture of him from when he was 6 weeks old (two weeks ago).

Then, early last week, Piper and Fletch started not feeling great, and their eyes got all gunky. They were both pretty pitiful, especially Fletch. I took them to the pediatrician, and they both had pink eye. That was on Monday. When they got home on Monday from Eric's mom's house, Fletch really wasn't feeling well and had a fever. Poor guy. On Tuesday, he stayed home from school, and thankfully, he got better that day. Last Wednesday was a normal day.

On Thursday, however, Deacon woke up at 4am and was just moaning and crying. I noticed he felt warm but not too bad. However, by 1pm, he felt hot and still hadn't really stopped crying. So, off we went to the doctor's where he had a 101.7 degree fever. That is really bad in newborns. This set off a string of appointments from last Thursday through yesterday to try to get to the bottom of why he was so sick. Even though we were fairly certain it was from the same virus we all had, they take fevers in newborns very seriously. Poor Deacon was subjected to blood tests, catheterized urine samples, a chest x-ray, and two antibiotic shots. Finally, yesterday (Monday), his fever came down and he's getting back to normal. Poor little guy was so sick, and it was so sad and scary.

While all this was going on, Eric and I were also feeling deathly ill from this virus, meaning that taking care of the rest of our sick troops was no easy feat. Thankfully, Eric's mom helped take care of P&F last week, and this past weekend, my mom was here. This visit was just perfect timing; I'm not sure Eric and I would have made it through the weekend otherwise.

Her visit was fantastic. We laid low on Saturday and then Sunday, she and I took P&F to Oxon Hill Farm, while Eric stayed home with Deacon. Here are some photos from the visit of all the things we did.

Piper and Fletch played hair salon

Fletch was a cool dude in his sunglasses.

I love this picture. Piper and Fletch got soaked at the water pump at the farm. They were so pleased with themselves.

They also pretended to be shy during the kids' farming presentation.

They played outside in the backyard.

Piper got her nails painted sparkly pink after keeping her undies dry all day (more on potty training to come in a later post).

And they relaxed with an episode or two of Wonder Pets.

While our sickness was a pretty big downer, we still had a great time, and it was sad to see Mom go. Let's hope next time she comes, we aren't struck with some medieval plague and can have more fun.